No Preset Destination
by I'm not telling
Summary: Nothing came to her, no explanation clicked in her head, and she just couldn't think. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to think; whatever was going on, the second she was sane enough to think about it, she was only going to realize that she was doomed.


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**Prologue****:**

More Than a Magician's Trinket

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oOo

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Lloyd sneezed loudly, the sudden noise causing the other three to look towards him in surprise as he rubbed his nose. "Ugh, there's so much dust down here!" He moaned, glancing over to the girl next to him. "How did you and the priests manage to spend so much time here, Colette? I can barely take a step without being covered with it."

"Well, I've never really been down to this part of the temple." She admitted. "All of my lessons take place in the chapel, and the church's services would happen there too. I don't think the priests have been down here ether. They where always really good with keeping everything clean, so they must not have been down here to clean in a really long time!" She replied cheerily.

Genis snorted, watching as another sneeze from Lloyd sent out a small cloud of dust from the deposits all over his body. "You could say that again."

They where in the deeper chambers of the Martel Temple, the wide open spaces and large ornate windows of the church above having given way to the dark underground passages they where in now. The only light available was from the candelabra Colette had grabbed from near the entrance, and with the dusty passage only being about four shoulder widths apart, the mercenary had taken point without a word, the other three trailing behind him. He was barely within the edge of the fire's light as he turned forward again.

"We should keep going." Kratos said firmly. "This is not the best place to be standing around chatting. The noise could attract monsters, and these passages are not wide enough for us to fight well in." He reasoned, continuing down the passage despite the darkness. "They are also more used to dark and can easily see us and prepare before we get close. We don't have that option."

"...Still though." Lloyd said after a moments hesitation, falling into step again with the others behind the stern man. "You'd think they'd take better care of the places they where going to go for the ritual. They'd need to come down here sooner or later so Colette could become the Chosen." He said offhandedly. "Or it could not be down here at all. Maybe it's dirty because the Magician's Trinket isn't down this way?"

_"Lloyd!"_ Genis cried in disbelief. "It's not some magician's trinket, it's a Sorcerer's Ring - _The_ Sorcerer's Ring. We where just talking about it a minute ago. How did you manage to forget what it's called so quickly?"

Lloyd flushed, though no one noticed it much in the low light. "Who cares what it's called? The only reason we're down here looking for it is because Colette needs it. It wouldn't matter what it was at all if we didn't need it."

Silence followed as the group continued down the corridor. This silence was soon broken again by Lloyd sneezing loudly. Kratos sighed quietly, not even bothering to stop or turning to look this time.

"Damnit." Lloyd muttered, trying to rub his nose with his dust covered glove. Thus explaining why he sneezed less than a second later. He growled in irritation. "You know what? This place sucks."

"You where the one who insisted on coming. If we weren't as far as we are, you could even turn around and leave now." Kratos replied. "This isn't a game. The trouble you're creating isn't going to help the Chosen complete her trial." He admonished. "Did you not say earlier that you wanted to protect the Chosen?"

"Of course I'm going to protect Colette!" Lloyd exclaimed in outrage. "I'm down here with her, aren't I?"

"You may be down here, but all you are doing now is complaining loudly." Kratos corrected, the irritation quite clear in his voice. "Where you not paying attention when I said that noise would attract monsters? All of these disturbances your making won't help any of us."

"It's not my fault that I have to sneeze. I'm covered in dust, so it's going to happen." Lloyd argued. "What would you like me to do, stop breathing?"

"Well, you didn't exactly get covered in dust only from walking around down here." Genis added. "Maybe the next time a ghost comes through the wall, you should just get ready instead of yelling and tripping all over yourself. Not rolling around on the floor when you fall over probably would have helped, too."

Lloyd turned his head to send a glare towards his best friend. "Shut up, Genis."

Lloyd stayed quiet after that, pouting and glaring at the floor. There was no question in anyone's mind that he was now brooding, and Colette looked at him with concern from beside him. Lloyd's fists clenched at his sides, expression becoming minutely angrier. _What's with him? He hasn't even been here for more than a day, and he's acting like he knows everything going on better than everyone else!_ He griped. _It's not like he's ever been down here before, so why is he leading us around like he knows best?_ He moved his head upwards, his glare holding as it settled onto the mercenary's back. Without a seconds hesitation he began to walk faster.

Colette blinked, her concern now shadowed by confusion as her friend moved farther ahead, glare still in place. "Lloyd...?" Genis looked sideways at her tone, raising an eyebrow at the older boy's antics but staying silent.

Kratos looked at the boy, barely turning his head to glance at him out of the corner of his eye. Lloyd almost stomped forward as he walked, now looking past the mercenary as he passed the older man - and leaving the lighted area the candelabra created. He stared forward as the boy continued to move further ahead, before giving an inaudible sigh as he walked faster, the others quickly following his example.

Lloyd kept walking at a fast pace, now completely covered in shadows. He only hesitated for a moment when he realized he couldn't see the walls on ether side of him, before sticking his arm out to trail his fingers along the wall as he kept going. The hallway had been going straight almost since the bottom of the stairs that led down here, and Lloyd kept walking straight on down the hall until the wall fell out from under his fingers.

Lloyd blinked, looking towards the hand he had used to trail along the wall, before letting it fall to his side again. He took a few steps forward into the dark room, but the sound of the others catching up behind him made him turn back to look towards the lighted hallway. He let his eyes narrow on the mercenary for a moment, before he looked over to his two friends a few yards behind, lightly jogging to catch up with the two swordsmen.

Genis slowed to a walk near the end of the hallway, before stopping completely as he looked beyond Lloyd's shoulder. His eyes widened. "Look, look! There's something glowing!" He yelled excitedly, pointing towards the center of the room.

The group looked out into the room, The candelabra's light now spilling over the entire area, defining the edges of the large raised dais and the stairs that led up to it in the distance. And sure enough, above a stone pedestal shown a small, glowing object, giving an odd sort of life to the dark room with its crystalline, shifting red light.

"I bet that's the Sorcerer's Ring." Genis said with a wide smile. "I've heard about it before. It's a holy artifact of the Church of Martel."

"With the ring, we should be able to deal with most traps and obstacles." Kratos added.

"Wow!" Lloyd replied in a hushed sort of awe, taking in the small glowing object. He then started running towards the stairs. "Let me try it!"

"Okay, Lloyd!" Colette called out, all smiles again.

"You're just like a little kid." Genis prodded, just loud enough to reach his over-eager friend.

Lloyd just laughed quietly as he went up the stairs, quickly reaching the top and walking towards the ring's stone platform as the others just waited at the bottom of the stairs. He took a moment to look on the small glowing object close up, still in awe of the glowing red gemstone hovering in mid air, before carefully reaching out to grab at the small metal band. The ring twisted in his fingers as he drew it out of the air, flipping over the tip of his pointer finger as the last of the force keeping it hovering gave out, and Lloyd's attention was drawn away from the ring as he saw a flash of gold on the end of the pedestal. "Huh?" He'd just caught a glimpse of it, and the bright glow of the ring had dimmed considerably now that it wasn't floating. Lloyd frowned, moving the ring forward again to light the object, but was only able to get a vague outline from the distant light of the candelabra and the very soft glow of the ring. his confused frown deepened a bit as he reached out his other hand.

"Lloyd? Is something wrong?" Colette called out, the shift in the boy's mood more than a bit disconcerting.

Lloyd quickly looked over his shoulder. "Naw, I'm fine." He said, before looking back at the faint outline of the object. "I think there's something else up here." He moved the ring as close as possible, and just enough that he got an indistinct shine. His other hand came forward to gently poke at the item, and his eyebrows screwed together as part of the object gently flopped off the other end of the pedestal, a few strands still shining lightly in front of the ring. "What the...?"

Kratos looked at the boy with genuine curiosity, watching him closely as he examined what he had supposedly discovered on the pedestal. He was unable to see what was up there himself from being below the level of the dais, and his curiosity grew as the boy moved around the stand outright to see what he had found.

Lloyd hunched forward, trailing the dim light in his hands over the gold strands on the top of the stand and down to where the rest of them had fallen over. He stopped his movement, eyes growing wide as he finally saw what was leaning against the raised stand. "Holy..." He muttered. He whipped his head around, calling out. "Colette! Hurry, I need a light!"

Colette rushed up the stairs without a moments hesitation, moving with a haste that soon had her tripping over herself. She fell forward on the stairs, the candelabra flying out of her hands before skidding on the floor towards Lloyd. "Ow..." She muttered to herself flinching as she pushed herself off of the stairs. She noticed the candelabra on the floor near her friend, one of its three branches broken off laying nearby, and with two of the candles snapped off. "Oh no!" She cried out, guilt filling her voice. "I'm sorry Lloyd! I didn't hit you with it, did I?"

Lloyd shook his head, quickly dropping the ring unceremoniously on the pedestal to grab the candelabra, and falling to his knees. "It doesn't matter right now." He dismissed, swinging back with the candle in hand to light what was behind the stand.

It was a girl. One that looked about the same age Colette was. She was slumped against the back of the stone pedestal, unconscious, with an odd baggy coat and the straps of a pack sliding off her shoulders. Her blonde hair stuck up in a few odd angles, and some of it still clinged to the stand behind her head.

Lloyd could also now see a trail of blood leading down her temple and all the way down to her neck, still freely flowing from a dark patch of hair.

"Guys! I need help!" He yelled frantically, reaching over to hold the girl's shoulder. "Someone's up here, and she's hurt!" He tried to shake her awake, but quickly gave up as as her head just slid down the stand more, bloody face now against her shoulder. He set the candelabra on the pedestal, rushing to yank one of his gloves off, before carefully reaching up to cup her bloodied cheek, lifting her head off of her shoulder. It was still warm.

"Move." a stern voice commanded from his side. He up looked at the mercenary, and shifted on his knees to get out of the man's way. He watched as Kratos carefully held the girl's head up, moving in close to inspect the head wound, before holding his other hand above it and beginning to softly chant.

Lloyd heard the others come up behind him, all of them now waiting with bated breath as the mercenary carefully tried to heal the girl. "How did she manage to get down here?" He heard Genis mutter behind him, sounding bewildered and concerned.

No one could really answer him.

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oOo

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End file.
